Sewing machine



T. LUND May 15, 1934.

SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T. LUND SEWING MACHINE May 15, 1934.

Filed Feb. 4, 1933 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wness 22%. gm,

Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEWING MACHINE Thomas Lund, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey The present invention relates to sewing machines for attaching welt to stitchdown or other types of shoes, and more particularly to devices for guiding and controlling the movements of the welt in such machines.

It is frequently the practice in shoe sewing machines to provide means for guiding welt to the point of operation of the stitch-forming devices of the machine where it is being attached to the shoe being sewn. At the end of a seam, the shoe is removed from the stitch-forming devices and moved a short distance in the line of feed to cause a length of welt to be drawn from the supply before cutting the welt between the machine and the shoe so that in starting the seam on a new shoe, a sufiicient length of welt will be provided.

The object of the invention is to provide novel and improved mechanism for automatically retracting welt, withdrawn from a sewing machine, a predetermined distance within the machine after being disconnected from the shoe, to prevent unduly wasting the welt.

To this end the features of the invention are illustrated as embodied in a lockstitch shoe sewing machine for attaching welt to the outturned margin of the upper and the sole of a stitchdown shoe, which machine is provided with a movable support for the welt, arranged to impart a frictional drag on the welt, and to move with the welt as it is being withdrawn from the machine, but to be retracted with the welt when the tension on the welt is released. As hereinafter described, the movable support is restrained from movement with the Welt during sewing, and resilient means is provided for retracting the movable support with the welt when the welt is severed from the shoe.

Other features of the invention will be readily understood from an inspection of the accompanying drawings, and the following description of the construction illustrated therein.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a lockstitch sewing machine for sewing stitchdown shoes, in which the features of the invention have been embodied; Fig. 2 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of a movable welt supporting guide and associated parts of the machine; and Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation, on the same scale, of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is of substantially the same general construction and. mode of operation as the machine shown and described in Patents Nos. 1,169,909, granted February 1, 1916, and 1,283,539, granted February 155-17, 1917, to Fred Ashworth. This machine is provided with a. work supporting table 2, a presser foot 4, a curved hook needle 6, a curved awl 8, a shuttle 10, and other stitch forming devices actuated from the main sewing shaft, indicated at 12, through mechanisms fully shown and described in the above-mentioned patents. The work table 2 is formed with a vertical slot for the passageof the needle and awl, and also with an angularly disposed slot for guiding the welt upwardly to the work engaging surface of the work table. The supply'of welt for the machine is carried on a reel 14 from which the welt, indicated at 16, passes to the work table. The machine is also provided with a driving and stopping mechanism controlled by a treadle connected at the lower end of a treadle rod 18.

After the sewing operation on a shoe is completed and the machine brought to rest, the treadle being released and the treadle rod 18 having moved upwardly, the work is free to be moved out of engagement with the machine, except that the welt still extends from the shoe and through the work table. The shoe is therefore moved toward the left of the machine to draw out a supply of welt from the work table so that the shoe may be separated from the stitch forming devices. Then the welt is severed close to the shoe, leaving the supply of welt withdrawn with the shoe extending beyond the work table.

To retract the welt a predetermined distance after having been withdrawn from the machine, according to the present invention, the welt is caused to pass through a movable welt guiding arm 20, engaging the welt between the work table 2 and the reel 14. The welt guiding arm 20 is pivotally mounted to swing in a horizontal plane about ascrew 22 threaded in a bracket 24 secured to the frame 26 of the machine. The bracket 24 is formed with a projection passing through an opening in the frame, and clamped therein by a set screw 28. At the forward end of the arm 20 are provided a pair of pins 30 between which the welt passes, being caused to lie fiat upon the upper surface of the arm by a curved leaf spring 32 fixed at one end to the arm, and extending forwardly and toward the left into engagement with the welt between the pins 30. The pressure of the spring 32 against the welt is sufficient to producean appreciable drag, so that unless re+ strained, the arm 20 will turn about the pivot 22 towards the work support.

After the welt has been severed from the shoe, the tension being released on the welt, the arm 20 is caused to move in the opposite direction, and to draw the welt back through the work support by a spring 34 coiled around the pivot 22. The upper end of the spring engages a downwardly extending flange of the arm 20, and the lower end of the spring passes through a small opening in the bracket 24, so that a yielding force is applied to turn the arm in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2.

To limit the movement of the welt guiding arm 20 set screws 36 and 38 are threaded in an upwardly extending portion of the bracket 24 in positions to engage the arm at either side of the pivot 22, respectively. The set screw 36 acts to limit the retracting movement of the arm 20- by the spring 34, and the set screw 38 actsto limit the movement of the arm 20 while the shoe is being removed from the machine.

During the sewing operation, the welt guiding arm 20 is maintained in the position to which it moved after retracting the welt when severed from the previous shoe. To this end the downwardly extending flange portion of the welt guiding arm is engaged by a latch lever 40 fulcrumed on a screw 42 threaded into the forwardly extending arm of the bracket 24. One arm of the latch lever 40 is connected by a rod 44, to the treadle which controls the stopping and starting of the machine through the treadle rod 18. When the treadle is depressed as in starting the machine, the latch 40 engages the lever 20 and prevents it from moving with the welt. At the end of the seam when the treadle is released, the rod 44 moves upwardly, causing the latch 40 to be disengaged from the arm 20, after which movement of the welt with the shoe in disengaging the shoe from the work support causes the arm to move towards the left and after the welt is severed, the arm moves towards the right to operate in retracting the welt in the manner described.

The arrangement of the welt retrieving device thus constructed, being independent of the operation of the stitch forming devices of the machine, may be used to advantage with other types of sewing machines or other mechanisms in which a retracting movement of the welt is at times desired. The amount of welt retracted is adjustable by the set screws 36 and 38 and the tension imparted to the welt by the spring member 32 may also be suitably regulated for various thicknesses of welt by an adjusting screw 46 threaded into the arm 20 and arranged to extend upwardly into engagement with the spring member 32.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A sewing'machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work feeding devices, a movable support from which a strip of welt passes to the stitch forming devices, means carried by the support for producing'a frictional drag on the welt, and resilient means for retracting the support a predetermined distance with the welt after the welt is withdrawn from the machine.

2. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work feeding devices, a movable support from which a strip of welt passes to the stitch-forming devices, means carried by the support for producing a frictional drag on the welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the support during sewing and to release the support for movement with the welt at the end of a seam, and means for retracting the support to its original position with the welt after the latch is released.

3. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work feeding devices, a movable support from which a strip of welt passes to the stitch-forming devices, means carried by the support for producing a frictional drag on the welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the support during sewing and to release the support for movement with the welt at the end of a seam, means cooperating with the support to yiel'dingly retract the support to its original position with the Welt after the latch is released, and means operated in starting the machine to cause the latch to again engage the support.

4. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch-forming and work feeding devices, a movable support from which a strip of welt passes to the stitch-forming devices, means carried by the support for producing a frictional drag on the Welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the support during sewing and to release the support for movement with the Welt at the end of a seam, means cooperating with the support to yieldingly retract the support to its original position with the welt after the latch is released, and means for regulating the frictional drag of the welt on the support to cause it to move the support against the action of the retracting means when welt is withdrawn.

5. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work feeding devices, a movable support from which a strip of welt passes to the stitch-forming devices, means carried by the support for producing a frictional drag on the welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the support during sewing and to release the support for movement with the welt at the end of a seam, means cooperating with the support to yieldingly retract the support with the welt after the latch is released, and stops for limiting the movement of the support both when the welt is withdrawn and when it is retracted.

6. A welt controlling device having, in combination, a movable welt supporting guide, a spring member on the guide for producing a frictional drag on the welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the guide, means for releasing the guide from the latch to permit the guide to move with the welt when the welt is withdrawn, and a spring for returning the guide to its original position and for retracting a length of welt as soon as the tension on the welt is released.

7. A welt controlling device having, in combination, a movable welt supporting guide, a spring member on the guide for producing a frictional drag on the welt, a latch arranged to prevent movement of the guide, means for releasing the guide from the latch to permit the guide to move with the welt when the welt is withdrawn, a spring. for returning the guide to its original position and for retracting a length of welt as soon as THOMAS LUND. 

